Edg. O thou side-piercing sight![4297] 85
Lear. Nature's above art in that respect. There's your[4298]
press-money. That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper:[4299]
draw me a clothier's yard. Look, look, a mouse![4299]
Peace, peace; this piece of toasted cheese will do 't.[4300]
There's my gauntlet; I'll prove it on a giant. Bring up 90
the brown bills. O, well flown, bird! i' the clout, i' the[4301][4302]
clout: hewgh! Give the word.[4302][4303]
Edg. Sweet marjoram.
Lear. Pass.
Glou. I know that voice. 95
Lear. Ha! Goneril, with a white beard! They flattered[4304]
me like a dog, and told me I had white hairs in my[4305]
beard ere the black ones were there. To say 'ay' and 'no'
to every thing that I said! 'Ay' and 'no' too was no good[4306]
divinity. When the rain came to wet me once and the wind[4307] 100
to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at
my bidding; there I found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go[4308]
to, they are not men o' their words: they told me I was[4309]
every thing; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.[4310]
Glou. The trick of that voice I do well remember:[4311] 105
Is't not the king?[4311]
Lear. Ay, every inch a king:[4312][4313]
When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.[4312][4314]
I pardon that man's life. What was thy cause?[4312][4315][4316]
Adultery?[4315][4317][4318]
Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No:[4318][4319] 110
The wren goes to't, and the small gilded fly[4318]
Does lecher in my sight.[4318][4320]
Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester's bastard son[4318]
Was kinder to his father than my daughters[4318][4321]
Got 'tween the lawful sheets.[4318][4322] 115
To't, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers.[4318]
Behold yond simpering dame,[4323][4324]
Whose face between her forks presages snow,[4323][4325]
That minces virtue and does shake the head[4323][4326]
To hear of pleasure's name;[4323][4327] 120
The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to't[4323][4328]
With a more riotous appetite.[4323][4328][4329]
Down from the waist they are Centaurs,[4323][4330]
Though women all above:[4323]
But to the girdle do the gods inherit,[4323] 125
Beneath is all the fiends';[4331][4332]
There's hell, there's darkness, there's the sulphurous pit,[4331][4333]
Burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie, fie, fie! pah,[4334]
pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to[4335]
sweeten my imagination: there's money for thee.[4335] 130
Glou. O, let me kiss that hand!
Lear. Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.[4336]